In an exclusive interview with The Business Manual, Mary Grace Dimacali shares the secret recipe behind her entrepreneurial success with Cafe Mary Grace.

T.S. Eliot once said, “Home is where one starts from.” In many special ways, this is uniquely true of Mary Grace Dimacali, the singular entrepreneur behind Cafe Mary Grace. Long before she became the founder and CEO of Mary Grace Foods Inc., she began the company, which was born from a love of baking, from her kitchen at home. As a mother to five children, she would often bake then sell what she made from her own oven. First she sold her products in the neighborhood, then in bazaars, then in shopping mall kiosks, then in cafe restaurants, until one cafe became 70, spreading from Manila to Pampanga. And yet, despite achieving such remarkable scale, walking into a Cafe Mary Grace is always like stepping through the familiar threshold of home. 

The Business Manual spoke to Mary Grace Dimacali about her extraordinary journey from home baker to entrepreneur, naturally, over cheese rolls, ensaymada, and cups of hot chocolate. She shared with us her recipe for the celebrated brand of Mary Grace, with the conversation leading to business school, gradual growth over 30 years, and her plans for bringing her authentic brand of beloved favorites to more Filipinos in the future.